scholarly journals The Role of Hydrogen Sulfide in Evolution and the Evolution of Hydrogen Sulfide in Metabolism and Signaling

Physiology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth R. Olson ◽  
Karl D. Straub
Keyword(s):  
Energy Source ◽  
Hydrogen Sulfide ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Ambient Oxygen ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Prebiotic Earth

The chemical versatility of sulfur and its abundance in the prebiotic Earth as reduced sulfide (H2S) implicate this molecule in the origin of life 3.8 billion years ago and also as a major source of energy in the first seven-eighths of evolution. The tremendous increase in ambient oxygen ∼600 million years ago brought an end to H2S as an energy source, and H2S-dependent animals either became extinct, retreated to isolated sulfide niches, or adapted. The first 3 billion years of molecular tinkering were not lost, however, and much of this biochemical armamentarium easily adapted to an oxic environment where it contributes to metabolism and signaling even in humans. This review examines the role of H2S in evolution and the evolution of H2S metabolism and signaling.

scholarly journals The origin of life: the first self-replicating molecules were nucleotides

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Ohsaka
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Clay Minerals ◽  
The Self ◽  
Rna Molecules ◽  
Simulated Environments ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Prebiotic Earth ◽  
Self Replication

Difficulties to synthesize RNA nucleotides from their subunits in modern labs under simulated environments leads us to propose a possible process for the synthesis by cross complimentary self-replication with help of clay minerals, which might be operated on prebiotic Earth. Clay minerals are known to be good catalysts and certainly existed on prebiotic Earth. The self-replication of RNA nucleotides (monomers) may be considered as the origin of potential self-replication of some extant RNA polymers, and also the reason for homochirality of RNA molecules.

scholarly journals The Role of Meteorite Impacts in the Origin of Life

Astrobiology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 1121-1149 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.R. Osinski ◽  
C.S. Cockell ◽  
A. Pontefract ◽  
H.M. Sapers
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Meteorite Impacts ◽  
The Origin Of Life

scholarly journals A Teaching Resource for a Computational Framework of the Value of Information in Origin of Life

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
soumya banerjee ◽  
joyeeta ghose
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Value Of Information ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Computational Framework ◽  
Teaching Resource ◽  
Processing Information ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Role Of Information

Information plays a critical role in complex biological systems. Complex systems like immune systems andant colonies co-ordinate heterogeneous components in a decentralized fashion. How do these distributeddecentralized systems function? One key component is how these complex systems efficiently processinformation. These complex systems have an architecture for integrating and processing information comingin from various sources and points to the value of information in the functioning of different complexbiological systems. This paper is a teaching resource that explains the role of information processing inquestions around the origin of life and suggests how computational simulations may yield insights intoquestions related to the origin of life.

scholarly journals LIFE AS WE DO NOT KNOW IT

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
soumya banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Computational Model ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Computational Simulations ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Carbon Based

Information plays a critical role in complex biologicalsystems. This article proposes a role for information processing in questions around the origin of life and suggests how computational simulations may yield insights into questions related to the origin of life. Such a computational model of the origin of life would unify thermodynamics with information processing and we would gain an appreciation of why proteins and nucleotides evolved as the substrate of computation andinformation processing in living systems that we see on Earth. Answers to questions like these may give us insights into noncarbon based forms of life that we could search for outside Earth. I hypothesize that carbon-based life forms are only one amongst a continuum of life-like systems in the universe.Investigations into the role of computational substrates that allow information processing is important and could yield insights into:1) novel non-carbon based computational substrates thatmay have “life-like” properties, and2) how life may have actually originated from non-life onEarth. Life may exist as a continuum between non-life and life and we may have to revise our notion of life and how common it is in the universe.Looking at life or life-like phenomena through the lens ofinformation theory may yield a broader view of life.

scholarly journals A carbonate-rich lake solution to the phosphate problem of the origin of life

2019 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 883-888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan D. Toner ◽  
David C. Catling
Keyword(s):  
Energy Transfer ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Chemical Weathering ◽  
Natural Waters ◽  
Environmental Constraints ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Prebiotic Syntheses ◽  
Prebiotic Earth ◽  
Low Solubility

Phosphate is central to the origin of life because it is a key component of nucleotides in genetic molecules, phospholipid cell membranes, and energy transfer molecules such as adenosine triphosphate. To incorporate phosphate into biomolecules, prebiotic experiments commonly use molar phosphate concentrations to overcome phosphate’s poor reactivity with organics in water. However, phosphate is generally limited to micromolar levels in the environment because it precipitates with calcium as low-solubility apatite minerals. This disparity between laboratory conditions and environmental constraints is an enigma known as “the phosphate problem.” Here we show that carbonate-rich lakes are a marked exception to phosphate-poor natural waters. In principle, modern carbonate-rich lakes could accumulate up to ∼0.1 molal phosphate under steady-state conditions of evaporation and stream inflow because calcium is sequestered into carbonate minerals. This prevents the loss of dissolved phosphate to apatite precipitation. Even higher phosphate concentrations (>1 molal) can form during evaporation in the absence of inflows. On the prebiotic Earth, carbonate-rich lakes were likely abundant and phosphate-rich relative to the present day because of the lack of microbial phosphate sinks and enhanced chemical weathering of phosphate minerals under relatively CO2-rich atmospheres. Furthermore, the prevailing CO2 conditions would have buffered phosphate-rich brines to moderate pH (pH 6.5 to 9). The accumulation of phosphate and other prebiotic reagents at concentration and pH levels relevant to experimental prebiotic syntheses of key biomolecules is a compelling reason to consider carbonate-rich lakes as plausible settings for the origin of life.

Emergence of Polygonal Shapes in Oil Droplets and Living Cells: The Potential Role of Tensegrity in the Origin of Life

2018 ◽  
pp. 427-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Gordon ◽  
Martin M. Hanczyc ◽  
Nikolai D. Denkov ◽  
Mary A. Tiffany ◽  
Stoyan K. Smoukov
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Oil Droplets ◽  
The Origin Of Life

scholarly journals Experimental fossilisation of viruses from extremophilic Archaea

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 1465-1475 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Orange ◽  
A. Chabin ◽  
A. Gorlas ◽  
S. Lucas-Staat ◽  
C. Geslin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Extreme Environments ◽  
Early Earth ◽  
Sulfolobus Islandicus ◽  
Viral Particles ◽  
Rock Record ◽  
Extremophilic Microorganisms ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Pyrococcus Abyssi

Abstract. The role of viruses at different stages of the origin of life has recently been reconsidered. It appears that viruses may have accompanied the earliest forms of life, allowing the transition from an RNA to a DNA world and possibly being involved in the shaping of tree of life in the three domains that we know presently. In addition, a large variety of viruses has been recently identified in extreme environments, hosted by extremophilic microorganisms, in ecosystems considered as analogues to those of the early Earth. Traces of life on the early Earth were preserved by the precipitation of silica on the organic structures. We present the results of the first experimental fossilisation by silica of viruses from extremophilic Archaea (SIRV2 – Sulfolobus islandicus rod-shaped virus 2, TPV1 – Thermococcus prieurii virus 1, and PAV1 – Pyrococcus abyssi virus 1). Our results confirm that viruses can be fossilised, with silica precipitating on the different viral structures (proteins, envelope) over several months in a manner similar to that of other experimentally and naturally fossilised microorganisms. This study thus suggests that viral remains or traces could be preserved in the rock record although their identification may be challenging due to the small size of the viral particles.

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